Return of the Emblem Chapter Ten: Converging Destinies

[Ether]

"Ah... s-sure." Faatina replied, moving over a tad so that Reign could rest his back on the tree trunk if he so desired. The woman had appeared to have entirely forgotten about her own state of dress by this point.

[Mercakete]

Ah, there he was. Without seeing any need for preamble, Gytha walked over to where Sinbad was sitting and greeted him, "Ahoy there! Nice shootin' last night."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

All was well and splendid in equine land.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Once she was ready to go it was a simple matter of exiting the Dauntless and walking over to where Blake had just been. Chelsea was still talking to Raquel but Blake was close enough to them that he might have actually been involved in the conversation. "Aw great..." he quietly sighed to himself before deciding to just interrupt.

So, walking up to the swordsman and casually resting his hands on his hips, Norbert interjected as politely as he was inclined to. "Hey, Blake. You got a moment?"

[Snike]

"... Kit brought Lia up as a result of reading my mind, and the way she brought it up was...Well, it was insensitive," Blake said, with a sombre expression. "I'm not going to elaborate more than that. Ask Zach or Bert if you really must know."

The man turned back towards his employer, and frowned when he heard about the strain. "I suppose that would have been our fault. Before we defeated Hypnos, he said that the burden of 'sustaining' that dream would fall to you, and implied that it wouldn't harm you. Evidently he was lying. Had I known I would've tried to subdue him with my staff... I'm sorry," he concluded, looking away again.

Then, Bert jumped in, and asked if the swordsman had a moment. "I will, in a minute. Can it wait?"

Edited April 3, 2013 by Snike

[Balcerzak]

Well that was unexpected. Hardly any time had passed, when Sinbad found himself being addressed. Pushing up the brim of his hat, and setting down the unloaded gun he'd been inspecting, he turned his gaze to the person seeking him out. It was a broad, buxom woman with a bandana, but what caught his attention more than any of her other assets was the pistol of her own hanging at her belt. Combined with her choice of comment, this piqued Sinbad's interest more than a little. It wasn't all too often he met another firearm enthusiast, much less a woman who could shoot.

"Mornin' to you as well, there. Don't rightly recall our having talked before, and I wish I could say I'd watched your shooting as well, but I cain't. Did hear some other shots fired, that musta been you, I reckon?" Sinbad asked rhetorically before continuing. "More'n likely I was paying too much attention to the matters closer at hand. Fact is, I was accused of having a bit of a narrow focus at the end there by one of my teammates; spent too much time worrying about just us three, and not enough about the group as a whole, she said. But enough about that, there something I can help you with?"

[Script]

A Man Called Gar

"Deception is the most powerful weapon after all," Gar wistfully noted. "Though I suppose we'll see his hair soon enough I guess."

[scorri]

Marella chuckled. "My name's Marella. You can call me Mar if you want. And of course I understand that you don't know me and as such it might be weird. It was just an offer. It can suck having no one to talk to about stuff and sometimes even a stranger is better than no one. You know?" She shrugged, staring at the fire. "Sometimes just having one person can save you." She shook herself lightly and then continued, "Anyways, it was just a thought. Now, who has that bear meat..."

[ReformBlade]

"But that's just it, what can he do about it but apologize and move on? Do you want him to feel just as bad? There's a saying for that you know... Violence begets violence." It was a strange situation, for sure. He's rightfully mad about the whole thing but I don't quite understand his means. "Look." she said softly. "I know you're not going to like this answer but it's the only solution I can offer, if you're even looking for one that is. I'd suggest to just.. let it go. I mean, from what you're telling me, this has been a consistent thing that's going on, and neither one of you is gonna change the other. Be the better man and just move on from it. She's fine, he's fine, you're all fine so in the end you're... well you're all back at point A, though admittedly staring across a weird gap. No need to prod the other side or to let yourself be bothered by what the other side is doing..." Looking towards the ground, she spoke again, "It's how my dad taught me to deal with things I couldn't handle, to just let them go. It sucks and it's sometimes incredibly difficult to do but... yeah. Sorry, didn't mean to lecture again..."

"What? No I didn't mean to imply..." Stopping herself short, Aneda sighed and just simply replied, "Thanks." wondering just as well where food was. Probably being held up by other drama or something.

[roymbrog]

Having woken a while ago, Synthia had gone to check up on Myra, who was of course fine. She left her near the other horses that were starting to graze and returned to sit at the rekindled fire and start brushing out her hair. They were having breakfast soon, right?

---

Valter was just finishing saddling up Phyllis when he heard a distinct set of sounds approaching from behind. It was one of two people, and much more likely to be one than the other. “Please don’t bring that wyvern over here. You’ll frighten my horse,” he said over his shoulder.

Katrina stopped in her tracks. How had he noticed her? She was trying to be sneaky! Granted a huge lumbering wyvern wasn’t exactly subtle, but dammit, her stealth skills were supposed to be impressive. “Oh, sorry,” she said sheepishly, and then told Volga to go sit somewhere else. It took repeating the order three times, but the wyvern finally obeyed and Kat turned back to the conversation she was trying to start. “Ok, but, she wouldn’t hurt a fly you know. She’s not going to do anything to your horse.”

“Uh huh…” Valter turned round and leaned back against Phyllis. Looking at the lizard lounging in the grass, all the horseman saw were claws and teeth. Dog owners said the same thing about their pets and the next thing you know they’re trying to rip your throat out… Really though, she couldn’t have walked over here just to talk about her wyvern. “Did you need something?”

Oh, straight to the point, huh? She could do that. “I was wondering if you could maybe kill something for me?”

That was... an odd request. “Why, exactly? You seem quite capable of doing that on your own,” he answered, crossing his arms.

Great, this was going to be long, wasn't it? Katrina took a deep breath. “Volga didn’t hunt last night because of the dream training, and I think people are eating the bear so I can’t give her that. And I don’t think Robin would help because she doesn’t like any of Zach’s new friends, and I think Rook bringing that bear in last night was a complete accident because I don’t think the guy could sneak up on a deaf cow. And then you’re the only other one I know with a bow, so I’m asking you to go shoot me a deer or something,” she finished, closing one eye and imitating the action of drawing a bow.

“So you’re assuming that because I’m an archer I know how to hunt?” Ok, this was amusing. What was she doing, anyway? “Your form is wrong. You nock the arrow with your dominant hand.”

Well darn. Kat dropped the imaginary bow. “See, that’s why I’m not the one shooting stuff! And even if you don’t know how to hunt, it can’t be that hard to chase down a deer can it? You’ve got a horse. Pleeeaaase?”

Valter looked rather smug. In addition to not seeing a real reason to try it, he was pretty sure trying to catch food for her wyvern wouldn’t be nearly as easy as Kat made it out to be. Instead of saying any of that though, he felt he had a much better question. “Do you know my name?”

“Uuh… maybe?” What did that have to do with anything?

-----

Cloe wasn’t particularly thrilled about their change in location, shithole was an apt description, but it wasn’t really her decision to move their merry band here either. As long as she and her sisters were being paid, she could definitely tolerate it. Leaning moodily against the wall was probably not the best way to express that sentiment though.

[Mercakete]

Gytha's grin widened to its cheery, full extent, which was what was typically on her face on most days. "Aye, one o' those shots came from me pistol n' th' other came from th' pistol o' a copy o' me. So I guess ye could say they were both mine, hahaharr! Well, regardin' Synthia, she's th' sort t' like t' keep a close eye on 'er teammates, so don't worra about that. Called Amon n' me 'reckless' more'n once! Followed by a long, strong warnin' about runnin' inta combat," she merrily answered the gunman, having figured the teammate he was talking about had been the healer mage. Moving along to answer his question, she continued, "N' I just came over t' talk. As I said, that was good shootin'. Was wonderin' where ye learned how."

Around that time, Gytha noticed Synthia coming over and sitting by the fire. Well, that was nice. Seeing the mage tended to make Gytha feel just a little bit happier, so she was in a very good mood at this point. The night may have been frightening, but the morning was turning out to be excellent.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Rizen looked up from her grazing to see another mare come their way and gave her a happy whinny in greeting. She'd seen this horse with them for a while now, but she hadn't yet had the opportunity to get to know her at all.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Norbert glanced over at Gabbie with a grimace but replied to Blake, "Yeah, it can. Just find Wyvern Girl and me when you have a moment."

With that, the pegasus rider wandered away to give Blake, Chelsea and Raquel some privacy for whatever it was they were talking about, asking Gabbie as he passed her by, "Want to spar in the meantime?"

Edited April 3, 2013 by Mercakete

[Click This]

Mao was in a horrible state, a usual occurrence in the morning for her. Sleeping late never did much for her, and she was up quite late last night. Whatever odd dream that she'd experienced last night also did not help much at all, and the result was the horrible head-cracking headache she was experiencing right now. Mao would describe it as a hangover without the alcohol. What she needed was some tea, and she half-expected her family's butler to apparate on the spot with a tray of tea in hand before shaking her mind clear. She turned to head over to the wagon to see if they had anything of the sort, but ran into Tia, one of the few familiar faces that she knew in group. She was feeling crappy, but not too crappy to straight up ignore people in the morning.

"Tea... Ah- I mean, good morning, Tia."

[Balcerzak]

Nodding as his suspicions were confirmed, Sinbad couldn't help but find the big woman's grin infectious, a smile of his own spreading across his face. This only continued when she got to talking about his partner, Synthia. It was a little hard to believe, but if true, the irony was impressive.

"Wait... we talking bout the same woman? Uses wind magic, heals people, has a hairband?" While he was pantomiming using a staff to heal someone, Sinbad noticed the mage in question had arrived on the other side of the fire and was in the middle of brushing her hair. What luck, right when he was tied up with other conversation too. Well, it wasn't likely she was going anywhere soon, so just take things as they come, 'spose. Continuing his train of thought, "Sitting right over there? That one? She was chewing out you folks for rushing in without waiting for backup? Oh ain't that rich. I'd just done telling her much the same, when she'd turned the words all around at me and lectured me about missing the bigger picture. Fact is, before she went off to heal the pegasus rider, I'd told her to wait up after and ask me ta cover her if she needed it. When I caught up, after caring for the fella who went down protecting us, she'd already done attacked. Damn lucky that double of the blue-haired swordsman went down on her first hit, 'cause things coulda turned right ugly."

Shaking his head, he realized he'd drifted rather far from the initial subject, and got around to answering her question. "Ah, thankee for the compliments, but I'm sure I could still use some improving. Anyway, learned to shoot back on the ranch, my father taught me. Not rightly sure if he learned back when he was in the military, or if it was after he settled down, never thought to ask, and even if I did, he kept pretty hush about some parts of his past. Anyway, I always preferred using a rifle myself, growing up, but..." The cowboy trialed off a bit at this, unwelcome memories drifting back. Tugging the brim of his hat lower, he curtly explained, "There was a bit of an incident, and well, she don't fire no more. Still carry it around, maybe one day I'll getter fixed up again..."

Changing the subject slightly, Sinbad fired back a question of his own, "And you? You also learn from your papa, or did ya pick it up on your own somehow?"

Edited April 3, 2013 by Balcerzak

[Eail]

Zach released his magic with a sigh as Kit vanished, he'd lost control of his emotions and nearly made a horrible mistake. That seemed to be his life now, making mistakes.

Robin was here though, caring.... bullshit. "If I'm supposed to be a ghost then treat me like I'm dead. Don't jerk around my emotions by pretending to care what happens." He replied with noticeable sadness in his voice. He wasn't going to be fooled into thinking she was back to the old Robin, not to be hurt again.

"Let me know if you need anything Raquel." 'Pfft, fat chance of that. She doesn't care about the opinion of anyone aside from Reign Veronika and Blake. Everyone else here is just muscle with no voice.' Walking off back towards the camp.

Now where was Grant... Zach could stand to let out some frustration and that son of a bitch would be a very nice target.

Edited April 4, 2013 by Eail

[Snowy_One]

Tia watched glumly as the altercation went down. She didn't know what to say, really. What could she really say? It was clear that these people cared a LOT about those bodies, to the point where she knew it would be foolish for her to really say anything. She was sorry that people she held no attachment to were dead on the same level as these people? That she should ignore them and treat them as if they were nothing? This wasn't really her business in the slightest, so instead, Tia's mind simply focused on advanced magical theorm and figuring out a way to get ponies to fly. An impossible task, and perfectly distracting.

Then someone, one of the newer faces, came over. A girl with white hair, red eyes, and a large hat who looked somewhat like a swordfighter or ranger.

"Hello. You got it right the second time. My name is Tia, water mage extraordinaire! I came with you guys because someone dumped my books into a puddle and they need repair, so I'm here for now. What's your name?" she asked, offering her hand cheerfully.

---

"<Even the dead deserve respect. Moreso than many of the living.>" said Robin coolly as she watched Zach walk away. If he wanted to go and pick a fight, that was none of her business, but if he was willing to at least talk to her and see she wasn't some monster, well, then she would be willing to listen.

[Click This]

Hmm, it seemed Tia didn't mind being mistakenly called tea. That would be an incredibly embarrassing mistake elsewhere. Anyhow, it didn't seem like Tia remembered Mao from the docks, but then again, there was a lot of faces to remember in this group. Not that faces were a problem for Mao; it was vital for her trade. Not remembering somebody would be as embarrassing as calling somebody a beverage...

"Ah, I believe we've met already... At the docks, I assisted you with your books, remember?" Mao winced slightly as her headache interfered, but continued. "In any case, I can't remember if I introduced myself to you --Damn this headache-- but my name is Mao Ehrendott, nice to meet you," she said, shaking the hand of the young water mage. "In any case, this may sound strange, but do you have any Tia --Ack-- I mean, tea?"

Edited April 4, 2013 by Click This

[Phoenix]

Dauntless

In her experience, the dragon head was vague, but she hadn't yet been lied to by it as far as she could tell, and it and Hypnos were essentially one and the same, so her first thought was, "Well ... I'm fine now," and she said this out loud. "It was just for those few seconds where it felt like my head was stuck between the Dauntless' wheel and the ground." But wait ... did he just say ... "Wait wait wait, you fought Hypnos?! What happened to the dragon?"

Zachary soon left them, leaving some parting words for Raquel. She wondered if he was in a bad mood still. Probably .... Gabbie wondered too but unlike Raquel, she didn't really 'care' one way or the other. She delayed before answering Bert, as the exchange between Raquel and Blake was actually pretty interesting. Not having anything to add made it tempting to just leave, however. Gabbie shrugged answering, "I guess ..."

Campfire

"No ... it's fine. I guess I need it," Shadrak replied. It may have been a lecture and those were generally annoying, but Shadrak could see the wisdom in what Mushirah was saying. It helped that she was conveying it in a friendly way rather than trying to beat him over the head with it. Still, he wasn't sure exactly how to put it into practice. Mainly because, "The problem is Colin's still technically our enemy. If not for these really weird and normally impossible circumstances, we'd be trying to kill each other right now, me to protect Raquel from him, and him to get her emblem piece. Even if I did just forgive and forget, I really don't see how it would change much. We're still enemies and ... well I guess the whole 'amiable attitude' thing isn't really my strong suit ..."

Outdoor Infirmary

Instead of sitting beside Faatina, he sat directly in front of her, crossing his legs and leaning forward a bit. Once he established eye contact, he didn't break it. "... other than your leg, are you feeling alright?"

Outdoor Buffet

Something about this grass ... Sandrock couldn't quite put her hoof on it, but it definitely tasted better than usual. Undisturbed green in lands like these? Perhaps that was it. She kept nibbling at it while Riley looked up every so often. Once the newcomer arrived, Riley welcomed her along with Rizen. Sandrock kept eating. They could talk later. Right now she had to fill up so she could help Riley tug that enormous thing everyone liked to keep around.

Some Place

"She's improving," Sardis noted to a hooded man standing beside him. The two of them were standing at the entrance to a mostly dark and empty room somewhere within the fortress' main building. Cassandra sat on her heels with her hands down on her thighs, eyes closed, and meditating as bright golden fragments slowly orbited her body.

"... what does Jethro think of her?" the hooded man asked.

"An artificial, based on his daughter? He isn't fond of her, I can tell you that much. Why do you ask?"

"His daughter was taken and used to create this girl. I wanted to know how he was dealing with it. This one ... this one needs a reason to fight, though. You should see to giving her one," the man replied.

"My orders aren't reason enough?"

"Your orders are little more than hot air she can latch onto or discard. Just make certain that you are not the object of her aggression. That would be unfortunate in the long run."

"I hope you aren't suggesting one of your ridiculous hatred philosophies," Sardis came back, frowning at the hooded man.

He in turn shrugged without looking at Sardis. His gaze was still locked on Cassandra. "Well, I do sense overwhelming hatred in this girl. Maddening hatred, bound up in chains. What I don't know is for what or whom it exists. You would do well to direct it elsewhere and not fall victim to it."

I suppose she has every reason to loathe her situation, and me. The others may think otherwise, but she's little more than a tool.

[Mercakete]

Hearing the gunman's story about how Synthia disregarded caution and ran into a fight that could have very well landed her in a fair amount of trouble, Gytha's eyes widened in surprise while her voice exploded into laughter. "HAHAHAHAHARRR! Wh-what? Synthia?! HAHAHARR! H-hoy, Synthia! Did ye realla run inta battle recklessla?!" Apparently, yes, they were talking about the same person as Gytha addressed the mage herself. She'd just have to get back to the rest of the conversation once she'd calmed down from the humor. For now she was holding her stomach, doubled-over in laughter.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Well, it sounded like Gabbie was following. That was fine, though it sounded like something was bothering her. Norbert didn't travel too far from the camp -- just far enough away to be out of the way and to get some plants between them and the main camp. There spot Norbert stopped in wasn't terribly clear but it wasn't impossible to fight in either. He looked around briefly before nodding to himself and noting, "Yeah, this looks good."

Then, he turned to face Gabbie. "So, do you mind trying out this terrain or would you rather we spar somewhere else?"

[Snike]

"I will," Blake said, before turning back to Raquel. "We defeated the dragon head, and when he faded, Hypnos took control of his creations and tried to attack us. 'Tried' is the key word here. I think you interfered with his forces and prevented them from attacking, which gave us enough time to defeat him proper. Thank you for that, by the way."

***

Grant eventually made his way over to the campfire, where there was already discussion, but didn't directly engage someone. Rather he just sat there and waited to see if there was to be breakfast.

[Eail]

There was the ice mage, by the fire funnily enough. "Oi, Grant. Sparring, you and me. I need to get this out of my system before we get on the road because emotional mistakes can't be afforded today. It's either you or Shadrak and I bet you wouldn't mind taking a shot at me either." Cracking his neck side to side as he spoke.

"Any volunteers for a healer?" Zach called out

Edited April 4, 2013 by Eail

[Snowy_One]

"Sorry, then. Mao. I didn't mean to offend you. It's just so overwhelming meeting so many new people here. To answer your question, though, I do not. But I can make tea in a unique way that you can't without magic... And you like calling me 'Tea'?" she giggled happily. "Kinda funny. Never had a nickname before."

[Ether]

Did I say Faatina's face was red? Scratch that, now it's red. The woman began to reply in a light stutter... well closer to a heavy stutter but that sounds odd so roll with it okay?

"...Err... I-i-i-i-i-i-i-i-i-I t-t-t-think s-s-so..." Faatina managed, her voice meek. She began shuffling about, the ground suddenly becoming very interesting... which lead her to recall her current state of undress. Now that was interesting.

Man that's a nice shade of red. Wish I could get a shirt in that colour.

[Snike]

"...Do you plan on trying to kill me?" Grant asked half-seriously, pulling his hood up. "Isn't it a bit early for that? Wait for after I piss you off for the day, at least." Then, in a more serious tone, he said, "Pick the arena."

[roymbrog]

Synthia could’ve sworn she heard someone mention her name when she had walked over, but wasn’t that interested in eavesdropping so paid it no mind since it didn’t come up again. It was much too early in the morning to be getting in other people’s business. Gytha’s guffawing across the fire did catch her attention though, especially when she realized it was directed at her. “Uh, what?” The mage stopped mid brush, staring over rather blankly. The pieces started to fall together once she noticed Sinbad was the one talking to the mariner.

“Hold on, I was not being reckless! That was a calculated risk, ok? It’s not the same thing!” she called back across the fire. Darn them, they were having a laugh at her expense weren’t they? Synthia felt some strange mix of irritation and embarrassment. Becoming defensive was the result.

A welcome distraction was found when Zach called for a healer. “A healer for what?” She hadn’t been paying attention to them at all. Now that she was though, she caught Grant’s response to whatever Zach had said. Not this again. The mage shoved the brush back in her bag and stood up. “How about we not fight? I really doubt you’re looking for a simple spar, here.”

---

Well, the girl that had been leading her around left Myra with some other equines of which she didn’t know much of. She had always been stuck with the annoying one that liked apples so much. This was a welcome change. Once greeted, she returned the sentiment before starting to graze. Mmm, actual grass and none of that dried stuff. This was delicious.

[Eail]

"Pfft, kill? I've got better things to kill than you. The place doesn't matter though, let's just get far enough away that nobody gets caught in the crossfire." Zach responded. It looked as though Synthia wanted to butt in as well though "I'm trying to blow off some steam and he's accepted the offer. You wanna be the fixer or not?"

[roymbrog]

“I don’t approve of this,” Synthia said, crossing her arms. “If I understand this right, you don’t really get to choose whether or not you kill with thunder magic. What if you screw up? Blow off some steam, suuure. I don’t know what you’re trying to prove here, but it’s stupid.”

[Eail]

"If you're even a semi-competent mage you know how to lower the power of your spell to a non lethal amount. Kerrigan might have been a monster of a human but he and my mother both taught me well. After ten years of doing this I'd have no excuse to not be able to control what I can do. I suspect Grant can do just the same as well, buuuuuut I doubt you're very concerned about my safety in all of this right?" Zach responded, adopting the same stance as the girl.